This invention relates to a hand lever-operated spray pump, particularly for the purpose of attaching to bottles or similar on the housing side. The pump plunger is connected with the hand lever at the rear of a mouthpiece opening and the pump plunger returns to the starting position as a result of a spring loading.
A spray pump of this type is specified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,955,511, where the hand lever is a trigger lever which is rigidly connected with the pump plunger. This causes a tendency for the pump-plunger chamber unit to tilt.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,442 specifies a hand lever-operated spray pump whose hand lever is arranged on a pivoting bearing by means of a fork recess/peg engagement on the housing side. Separated by a space thereto, it acts via a living hinge in side acting upon the pump chamber, which is a bellow-type housing on the side opposite to the mouth place by means of an additional living hinge. A finger on the transmitting piece closes/opens on air compensation opening.
It is the object of the invention to provide a hand lever-operated spray pump of the above type which is functionally reliable and structurally simple.
This problem is solved substantially with a hand lever-operated spray pump having the characteristics of Claim 1, provided that two hinge points are allocated to the hand lever, one of which is moving non-rotating on the housing side in a linear guide provided on the housing side, and the other is attached to the housing on the side opposite to the mouth-piece in such a way that both hinge points are connected via two bridge sections that buckle with respect to each other. This prevents the pump plunger from tilting. The hand later performs an overriding movement: swiveling plus shifting. The respective linear guide is defined by the guide on the bridge sections buckle or fold. This movement can even be utilized as a force for restoring the pump plunger to its starting position by means of a hand lever coupling. The bridge sections"" buckling movement may then be utilized for an additional function in that one bridge section supports the sealing part for a ventilation aperture which leaves its sealing position with respect to the ventilation aperture during the buckling process. This solves the problem of air compensation by the easiest possible method. As the buckling process takes place only when the pump is activated, this provides for a space-saving outline in non-operating position, offering both storage and packaging advantages. According to the subject matter of U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,442, the overall size of the spray pump decreases only when it is activated. In addition, the invention proposes to provide a living hinge point between the two bridge sections, thereby eliminating the need for classic axes. The second bridge section is then further developed such that it represents the connector on a U-profiled part that encompasses the housing in a U-shape. This provides a strong coupling for the bridge.
In addition, the design is characterized by a locking connection from the U-profiled part toward the housing in order to prevent that this locking point is required for the purpose-of achieving the required flexibility for the respective bridge section, the hinge point, located on the side of the spray pump opposite to the mouthpiece, is a living hinge adjacent to the place of the locking connection. This also prevents any movements caused by the bridge sections"" movement to be transferred to said place. In addition, a proposal is made, which has its own significance, according to which the pump plunger continues tapering approximately up to the mouthpiece where it is in form-fit connection with a mouthpiece cap and that, between the two parts, a discharge valve is provided in the form of a moldable rubber piece. This represents a structural simplification, allows easy assembly and requires fewer parts. The rubber piece is of the type which remains closed until a certain high pressure response threshold is reached at which time it opens abruptly. This results in a powerful spray, especially if the rubber piece is mounted on the front end of the pump plunger and is equipped with a collar which expands as a result of the pressure caused by the fluid, and if it has axial flow-through cross sections in a disk-shaped part. These cross sections are connected with the mouthpiece opening in that the mouthpiece cap is rotated. This should be based on eccentricity in order for the spray pump to be a superior with respect to media losses as well. It is advantageous if the spray pump housing is attached to the bottleneck by means of a plug-in/clip connection substituting the normally used swivel nut. With the attachment of a collar, the plug-in connection is able to simultaneously function as a sealing connection.
In addition, the spray pump as per the invention is characterized by a disk-shaped inlet valve having a valve locking piece which is supported by crosspieces. The pump plunger restoring spring is supported by said crosspieces. The opposite end of the spring moves against a cross section-decreasing shoulder in the interior of the hollow pump plunger which trails on the wall of the pump chamber with the edge of the larger cross section opening. This edge is preferably a sleeve-like lip. It is also advantageous to equip the pump plunger with lateral pockets for the hinge point on the hand lever side. The hand lever axle stubs passing through the linear guide are inserted in the pockets. An advantageous variant of an air compensation system is the utilization of the pump plunger. According to this variant, the housing wall of the pump chamber is provided with a ventilation aperture extending into the interior of the bottle. When the pump is in its starting position, the aperture, which is located directly behind the edge of the pump plunger, is closed by the pump plunger, and opens when the pump plunger is activated. This provides for an additional pump plunger function. It acts as a slide. This does not even require that the plunger casing wall is continuously leading. It suffices to equip the pump plunger with two piston rings which, in the pump plunger starting position, are located on either side of the mouth of the ventilation aperture. This decreases the friction against the pump plunger and favors the desired easy activation of the trigger pump. There is an added advantage in that, as a result of creating the ring space, the pump plunger, positioned in the direction of discharge, acts as a seal with relation to the pump chamber, for example in the event of excess pressure in the bottle which may be generated by heat.
An advantageous further development should be noted with respect to the inlet valve. This development is achieved by a disk-shaped inlet valve body which is symmetrical with relation to the disk center plane. The respective mirror symmetrical from permits the use of either side of the inlet valve body, thereby preventing any assembly mistakes or re-work requiring that a side inverted inlet valve be reversed. Regardless of its allocation, the desired valve function is always reliable. It is also advantageous for the valve locking body of the inlet valve to be barrel-shaped having hemispherical ends on both sides. The valve locking body is located in the center of the disk-shaped inlet valve body. 1 Further more, the discharge valve is also further developed which is characterized in that the discharge valve is covered by the mouthpiece cap and that it is equipped on the fore-part with supply channels leading toward the mouthpiece opening. The supply channels can be closed by rotating the mouthpiece cap. This is achieved in that the discharge valve is a moldable rubber piece which is equipped with a stem. One end of the stem supports a valve disk while the other end is equipped with a cylindrical stopper part having diametrically opposed flattened parts that create channels. Supply channels lead from the front of the flattened parts to a central swirl chamber. Due to its larger mass of material, the stopper part is virtually not moldable so that the channel cross sections remain largely unaffected despite the pressure caused by the media, while the valve disk provides the flexibility and restoring force required for the valve function.
For the purpose of locking, it is advantageous for the swirl chamber to be eccentrical, resulting in a congruent position with the mouthpiece opening, which is also eccentrical, and the ability to leave this position which results in blocking the discharge path. Finally, with respect to the axis of the second bridge section, it is proposed to use a hook for the locking connection on the housing side for the second buckling bridge section. The hook is adjacent to a supporting crosspiece whose front surface forms the hinge point in that it is thrust against a housing console at the rear. It is structurally advantageous for the hook to pass through a hole in the rear housing console, and that the supporting crosspiece, which is located behind the hole and which creates the hinge point and runs substantially parallel with the shaft of the hook, forms the end of the second buckling bridge section. The close proximity between the supporting crosspiece and the hook provides for sufficient play to allow the bridge sections to buckle. Added to that is the flexibility and restoring force of the material used, i.e. synthetic material.
The subject of the invention is described below in more detail by means of an exemplary embodiment illustrated in the drawings, as follows:
FIG. 1 the spray pump of the invention used on a bottle in starting position;
FIG. 2 the same spray pump in operation;
FIG. 3 the pump in starting position in vertical profile with dash-dot lines suggesting the operating position;
FIG. 4 the pump plunger shown individually, in perspective, including the discharge valve and the mouthpiece cap in exploded view;
FIG. 5 a spray pump variant in starting position, in vertical profile;
FIG. 6 the same spray pump, also shown in vertical profile, in operating position;
FIG. 7 a modified discharge valve, shown in perspective, further enlarged with respect to FIG. 6; and
FIG. 8 a separate illustration of the inlet valve as seen from top, also further enlarged with respect to FIG. 6.